Presentations

Techniques that enhance the professional PowerPoint presentation

From a technical perspective, there are a few simple rules that can be followed to dramatically enhance a presentation. These are not necessarily mandatory but they create a lasting positive impact on the audience, irrespective of content or context.

The few simple rules are as follows:

Consistency

Consistency in PowerPoint presentations go hand in hand with quality. Care must be taken to ensure the font type and font size, are not only relevant for the presentation, but also consistent through the slides.

While a Comic Sans or Chiller font is inappropriate for a business setting, it might perfectly go with the theme of a marketing campaign.

The usage of colour must be in accordance with the theme of the setting and we can get an idea of permissible colours by looking at the company logo, website and such resources. Placement of elements such as clipart, pictures and illustrations are also important and should be consistent through the slides.

To ease yourself, you can always search for PowerPoint design inspiration online or directly contact PowerPoint designers that can assist you in your creative journey.

Alignment of the slides’ design

There is no specific rule for the design of your slides but most importantly is when you choose a particular style – keep using it throughout the whole presentation. Even the slightest misalignment can stand out when a slide is projected on a white screen or display. Always ensure that the elements of a slide such as tables, clipart, text, illustrations etc. are aligned with respect to a reference line that is common to all the slides.

Also, lack of alignment can give the impression of messy or irresponsible work thereby attracting a lot of unwanted and negative attention. This might even underplay the importance of the information being conveyed.

Attention

The purpose of your presentation is to catch and hold on to the attention of the target audience. This can be captured by making each slide visually enhanced. Ensure that the focus is on the most important message by having one message per slide. This is also dependent on the context where the presentation is to be used.

Summary in the title of the slide

The PowerPoint experts suggest that each slide should have a prominent title that effectively summarizes the contents presented in the slide. This creates a preface effect for the audience as they get to know what to expect in the slide. It also helps in capturing the audience attention and channeling it towards the intended focal point of the following information.